Ecclesiastes 5
1 Thou that entrist in to the hous of God, kepe thi foot, and neiye thou for to here; for whi myche betere is obedience than the sacrifices of foolis, that witen not what yuel thei don.
Keep your foot, whenever you go to the house of God; and [when you are] near to hear, let your sacrifice [be] better than the gift of fools: for they know not that they are doing evil.
2 Speke thou not ony thing folily, nether thin herte be swift to brynge forth a word bifore God; for God is in heuene, and thou art on erthe, therfor thi wordis be fewe.
Be not hasty with your mouth, and let not your heart be swift to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven above, and you upon earth: therefore let your words be few.
3 Dremes suen many bisynessis, and foli schal be foundun in many wordis.
For through the multitude of trial a dream comes; and a fool's voice is with a multitude of words.
4 If thou hast avowid ony thing to God, tarie thou not to yelde; for an vnfeithful and fonned biheest displesith hym; but `yelde thou what euer thing thou hast avowid;
Whenever you shall vow a vow to God, defer not to pay it; for [he has] no pleasure in fools: pay you therefore whatever you shall have vowed.
5 and it is myche betere to make not a vowe, than aftir a vowe to yelde not biheestis.
[It is] better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.
6 Yyue thou not thi mouth, that thou make thi fleisch to do synne; nether seie thou bifor an aungel, No puruyaunce is; lest perauenture the Lord be wrooth on thi wordis, and distruye alle the werkis of thin hondis.
Suffer not your mouth to lead your flesh to sin; and say not in the presence of God, It was an error: lest God be angry at your voice, and destroy the works of your hands.
7 Where ben many dremes, ben ful many vanytees, and wordis with out noumbre; but drede thou God.
For [there is evil] in a multitude of dreams and vanities and many words: but fear you God.
8 If thou seest false chalengis of nedi men, and violent domes, and that riytfulnesse is distried in the prouynce, wondre thou not on this doyng; for another is hiyere than an hiy man, and also othere men ben more hiye aboue these men;
If you should see the oppression of the poor, and the wresting of judgement and of justice in the land, wonder not at the matter: for [there is] a high one to watch over him that is high, and high ones over them.
9 and ferthermore the kyng of al erthe comaundith to the seruaunt.
Also the abundance of the earth is for every one: the king [is dependent on] the tilled field.
10 An auerouse man schal not be fillid of monei; and he that loueth richessis schal not take fruytis of tho; and therfor this is vanyte.
He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver: and who has loved gain, in the abundance thereof? this is also vanity.
11 Where ben many richessis, also many men ben, that eten tho; and what profitith it to the haldere, no but that he seeth richessis with hise iyen?
In the multitude of good they are increased that eat it: and what virtue has the owner, but the right of beholding [it] with his eyes?
12 Slepe is swete to hym that worchith, whether he etith litil ether myche; but the fulnesse of a ryche man suffrith not hym to slepe.
The sleep of a servant is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but to one who is satiated with wealth, there is none that suffers him to sleep.
13 Also anothir sijknesse is ful yuel, which Y siy vndur the sunne; richessis ben kept in to the yuel of her lord.
There is an infirmity which I have seen under the sun, [namely], wealth kept for its owner to his hurt.
14 For thei perischen in the worste turment; he gendride a sone, that schal be in souereyn nedynesse.
And that wealth shall perish in an evil trouble: and [the man] begets a son, and there is nothing in his hand.
15 As he yede nakid out of his modris wombe, so he schal turne ayen; and he schal take awei with hym no thing of his trauel.
As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, he shall return back as he came, and he shall receive nothing for his labour, that it should go [with him] in his hand.
16 Outirli it is a wretchid sijknesse; as he cam, so he schal turne ayen. What therfor profitith it to hym, that he trauelide in to the wynde?
And this is also an evil infirmity: for as he came, so also shall he return: and what is his gain, for which he vainly labours?
17 In alle the daies of his lijf he eet in derknessis, and in many bisinessis, and in nedynesse, and sorewe.
Yes, all his days are in darkness, and in mourning, and much sorrow, and infirmity, and wrath.
18 Therfor this semyde good to me, that a man ete, and drynke, and vse gladnesse of his trauel, in which he trauelide vndir the sunne, in the noumbre of daies of his lijf, which God yaf to hym; and this is his part.
Behold, I have seen good, that it is a fine thing [for a man] to eat and to drink, and to see good in all his labour in which he may labour under the sun, [all] the number of the days of his life which God has given to him: for it is his portion.
19 And to ech man, to whom God yaf richessis, and catel, and yaf power to hym to ete of tho, and to vse his part, and to be glad of his trauel; this is the yifte of God.
Yes, and [as for] every man to whom God has given wealth and possessions, and has given him power to eat thereof, and to receive his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.
20 For he schal not bithenke miche on the daies of his lijf, for God ocupieth his herte with delicis.
For he shall not much remember the days of his life; for God troubles him in the mirth of his heart.
